


Uncharitable Mercy

by xsunny



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Kidnapping, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), References to Canonical Suicide Attempt, Whump, brief mention of torture and drugging, hurt!zemo, prisoner!zemo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-11
Updated: 2020-04-18
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:15:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,061
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23601421
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xsunny/pseuds/xsunny
Summary: Tony decides to break an injured and sick Zemo out of the JCTC Building.(Takes place after Captain America: Civil War.)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 21





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Warning: If any of the tags or following topics may trigger you, or make you feel uncomfortable, please don't read this story:  
> * Mentions of suicide attempt and suicide ideation.  
> * Mentions of kidnapping, torture and injuries.  
> * Mentions of non-consensual drugging and clothing removal.  
> * Disregard for real life medical stuff and MCU lore (no disrespect intended).

Tony goes to visit their "evil" Sokovian prisoner at the JCTC to get information for an operation and finds Zemo barely responsive, giving detached monosyllabic answers to his questions. 

The colonel looks barely conscious inside the aquarium cell, having difficulty to keep his head up and his glassy eyes open - in fact, Tony had to wait longer than usual as the guards brought him this time, as he kept stumbling in those worn out shoes.

Tony asks Friday alone to check what is wrong with Zemo, and Friday says her readings show his temperature is reaching almost 40°C. Tony is appalled. He buys time asking some more inane questions - paying more attention, he notices the trembling in Zemo’s hands have this strange cadence…

“Friday, is that Morse code?” He asks the A.I. privately.

“Yes, it is.”

Tony dreads asking, but asks anyway. “What’s it saying?”

“It’s Sokovian for 'kill me’.”

Tony makes the decision to break Zemo out of the JCTC that moment, already knowing they were probably to find more injuries and mistreatment signs underneath the well-worn prison clothes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story was originally published on my sideblog on Tumblr.


	2. Chapter 2

Tony Stark is not one to plan much in advance when a "project" like this happens to come into his radar. Breaking a sick Zemo out of the JCTC before he's killed by what appears to be negligence and mistreatment feels invigorating, almost like stealing a forgotten old book from the school library; forbidden, but exhilarating and for a greater good.

He goes back to the JCTC for the rescue mission only a few hours later, this time hacking his way inside. After Friday disables the security cameras and alarms, he lasers off the metal bars and passes _incognito_ through a small and highly secured skylight that leads, many meters below, to the small area where they bring the most dangerous inmates to get a minimal time in the sun. 

He's not surprised to find Zemo there, slumped on the floor on his side, his back to the center of the round pit of light. What surprises him is that even with the noise from the bars being cut and the propulsors of his suit he doesn't stir. 

"Friday, is he alive?" Tony half jokes as he comes closer. 

"His temperature has reached 40ºC." 

Tony kneels down and turns Zemo's body on his back. He's prepared for some last minute stunt, and is dismayed to find Zemo’s not only unconscious, but also blindfolded and handcuffed even in his weakened state. 

"Wow, kinky." He exclaims to hide his unease. "At least he's already all packed up for transportation." He produces a small injector filled with a clear liquid. "Ok, Laszlo, let's get you out of here." 

"Tony, I advise against sedating him."

"Come on, Friday, don't be mean, where's the fun if we can't have some midazolam?" He singsongs. 

"With his current high temperature, it might depress his oxygenation levels, triggering a-”

"Ok, ok, you win." Tony says and caps the injector back, fussing with Zemo's odd looking clothing out of curiosity. “Oh, somebody had a trip to the infirmary,” he says regarding the trousers and long sleeved medical scrubs under a thin darker cotton jacket. "Very prison-chic, to go with those matching shoes.” Tony tries to hide with humour the concern with the health of his pet rescue project.

Then he notices that Zemo's wrists are bandaged beneath the handcuffs, and how he's minutely trembling. Taken by a sudden need to know for sure, Tony lifts Zemo's shirt, and is livid when he's once more proved right: contusions color the very pale skin of his stomach and torso. 

Tony is sure that should he check the rest, those are not going to be the only ones, and suddenly it's all too personal. They should be the ones that wouldn't do that... they were supposed to be better than that...

If Tony didn't know better, he wouldn't only break Zemo out of there, but burn the place to the ground. He takes a quick look around the cylindrical cell with its high cement walls, memories from his time as a captive rushing through his mind. He dismisses those thoughts for now.

He gathers the collapsed body from the floor gentler than he would when he first broke into the cell. Zemo is unresponsive as Tony guides his head to rest on his shoulder for transportation. It seems wrong that such an intelligent and cunning man looks so unguarded and defenceless. Tony almost wishes this was all a ruse from Zemo to get out of prison.

Tony makes quick work of getting out of the damned place through the high skylight, his flight now rushed into the beautiful Berlin twilight as his cargo needs medical attention the authorities made necessary and failed to provide. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter dedicated to lyxine.


	3. Chapter 3

Tony lands gracefully with his cargo on the balcony of the lavish penthouse he’s staying at the German capital after a quick and uneventful trip.

“Here we are, Laszlo. A shame it’s you here instead of Pepper.” Zemo stirs, but doesn’t regain consciousness. “It's Ms. Potts to you, by the way.”

Tony deposits Zemo’s body on one of the couches and opens his visor. The guy is drenched in sweat even after their short flight in a cold temperature. 

“Friday, how high is his temperature?”

“He seems to have stabilized at 39.5°C degrees. May I remind you that, should he keep this temperature-”

“I know, I know, he’ll cook, no good.”

Tony goes to the humongous main bathroom and opens the cold water on the bathtub. He thinks better and turns on the bubble function, just because… because he wants.

He goes back to the main living room, wary that Zemo may be trying something. He finds him shivering on the same spot, his breathing fast and shallow, blindfold still securely in place.

“You surely aren’t pretending, are you?”

With his armor lending him the necessary strength, Tony carries Zemo to the bathroom, to one of the overly luxurious chairs there. The thought of simply tearing the scrubs off crosses his mind, but it’s too intimate, too… that reminds him of things no one should ever have to go through.

The blindfold goes off, Friday hacking the electronic handcuffs next, an anti-climatic opening without even a _click_ sound. Tony thinks he might have liked to laser them off when he sees the white bandages on his wrists again.

Tony maneuvers Zemo from where he's sitting and starts to undress him. He’s not shocked, but also not happy, with the bruises he sees under each layer of clothing coming out. The guy is a terrorist, a criminal mastermind, but no one should be treated like that.

“What are you doing?” Comes the slurred question in Sokovian, promptly translated by Friday, when Tony reaches for his pants and underwear. 

"You are too hot, Krabat." Tony half smiles at his own joke. "But don't get your hopes high, I mean your temperature." 

Zemo tries to fixate his sight on Tony, but closes his eyes again. "From all people… it had to be you..."

"Genius, billionaire, philanthropist, and all that, at your service." He's vaguely aware that Zemo smiles a little at the irony of Tony Stark saying that while kneeling on the floor removing the rest of his clothes. "Can you walk?"

Zemo stands up and is caught by Tony the moment his knees buckle.

Tony guides the shivering body to the bathtub with an arm around his waist and holding one arm around his shoulders.

"Guess you didn't see this one coming when I visited you today at the JCTC, did you?"

"Didn't... see anything- coming after..." Zemo cryptically states. 

Tony feels a small sliver of sympathy for his fallen enemy as he lays down on the cold water and the shivering increases ten-fold. 

"Bubbles, Stark?" 

"Thought you'd enjoy some." 

Zemo snorts. 

"Friday, how is our lobster going?"

"39.3ºC."

"See, Laszlo? It's working."

Tony is dismayed to see that Zemo seems to be unconscious again. He sits on the vacated chair and starts to plan what to do next. Medical care, clothing, probably stuff some food on the guy, as he was way too light to carry. 

He turns the bubbles off and sends the requests for all the items while still looking at the unmoving body of the man he just broke out from prison. His eyes wander to the pale wrists laying outside each side of the tub. 

Tony has an educated guess of what lies beneath those white and now soaked bandages, but he needs to see it, proof of… he doesn't allow the thought.

He brings the chair closer to the bathtub and carefully unwraps the wrist closer to him. It's a clean cut, sewed shut, the bruised skin around it pointing to some forceful restraining.

It's all Tony can think before he is throwing up on the state-of-art toilet, memories coming unbidden to his mind. 

He's taken from his own private hell by the small voice coming from the bathtub. "I didn't fight them, you know…"

"Then why?" Tony manages.

"The reason why- they couldn't finish… your visit." Zemo slurs. 

It hits Tony like a truck: his visit was the reason why Helmut Zemo was still alive, if barely. 

"They knew you'd come… they didn't want to risk… with all that happened, they didn't want to lose you, too." Zemo's lips go down. "You saved me."

Tony gets up from the floor. "And you didn't want to be saved." 

"It's my punishment, Stark. To live, and because of you."

"Don't be flattered, it wasn't on purpose."

At that Zemo laughs, a small, broken sound that saddens Tony.


	4. Chapter 4

“Why are you doing this, Tony Stark?” Zemo asks from his seat on the back of the private jet. Both him and the only other passenger know he's not referring to Tony securing him to the armrest like he could try to escape from a soon to be flying airplane.

"Because I can?" Tony checks the JCTC issued handcuffs, his attention irresistibly drawn to the bandaged again wrists. "Do they hurt?"

Zemo is gracious enough not to pretend he doesn't understand the question. "Yes."

"Good." 

Zemo snorts. 

When Tony is satisfied his 'guest' will go nowhere, he prepares a generous dose of whisky for himself. He then goes to a cabinet and produces a small first aid kit. He fishes for a small bottle inside and takes two pills. 

"Two? You are a generous man, Tony Stark." 

"Open up, Krabat." 

Zemo pretends he doesn't understand and opens the palm of his hand, but is handed only one of them.

"You really don't know me." Tony says and takes the other one with a gulp of whisky.

Zemo shrugs and tries to reach the pill on his shackled hand, but stops when it jars his many wounds, flinching at the acute pain in his chest area. He slumps as further as he can with his hands secured to the armrest, his head resting on the back of the seat, eyes closed. 

Tony sees how he's gone pale. "Here, let me help," he reaches for Zemo's hand. "You know, either you're a very good actor," he says placing the pill on Zemo's lips, "or they did a pretty good job on you on that place."

Zemo swallows the pill without opening his eyes, and is surprised when the whisky glass is brought to his lips a moment later. He looks at Tony while taking a small sip.

"I wonder how one can get pneumonia in a controlled environment like that." Tony looks him straight in the eyes. "Controlled temperature, constant monitoring, state of art medical facilities… Did you do it on purpose?"

Zemo holds his gaze, no animosity there when he answers with a single word. "Waterboarding." 

Tony nods once, suddenly not wanting, but _needing_ to know more.

"And why didn’t you tell them the info?"

"They weren't asking for any."

"Why do they- just why..." Tony sighs, suddenly tired.

"Because they can?"

It's Tony who snorts now. He admires the wit of his downed enemy, and also his resilience. 

"Give it a few minutes," Tony points at the first aid kit, "You'll forget even your name." 

"No problem, it's not like I'm flying a jet, anyway." Zemo deadpans. 

"Me neither." Tony says as an afterthought on his way to the cockpit. "Friday, let's go home." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter dedicated to yuna. :)


End file.
